Sometimes we get so caught up in following the rules with marketing that we forget its entertainment value. However, with marketing becoming more community based than ever (thanks to the onslaught of social media channels), you ‘gotta’ inject some personality or you are going to have a much tougher time engaging your prospects.

Without some personality:

• You won’t get their attention in the first place

• They won’t forward it on or tell others

• They will remain neutral about how they feel about your product or service.

At a recent social media conference, I had the pleasure of hearing the story of Knorr’s Sidekicks recent campaign created by Tribal DDB Canada. It’s such a great example of how a bit of personality can go a long way.

Knorr had just introduced their new Sidekicks with less sodium and wanted to take over the #1 spot in the marketplace. Tribal DDB introduced Salty – the lonely and dejected salt shaker. The ad and Salty were an instant hit, and they soon created a Facebook page for Salty’s Life and a Twitter feed as well. On Facebook alone Salty has 12777 Likes (note: Knorr’s Facebook page has only 1416).

Salty became such a hit that Knorr even created salt shakers of Salty and his buddy Pep. In less than 25 days the first shipment of 20,000 shakers sold out. In fact people were selling them on eBay for $200 a set! People started launching You Tube videos of them and their Salty and Pep shakers. In fact, Salty is quite the hit on You Tube as well. Check it out.

Did Knorr achieve their goal to dominate their market? Yes. Did they end up creating enormous buzz for the product? Yes. Heck they even created a new income stream (Salt & Pepper shakers). Just because of a little bit (okay a lot) of personality.

Sure, as small businesses, we might not be able to go this extreme, but personality still plays an important point. One small company I know simply played with his Facebook ad. His first ad, presented his product in serious tone and got a decent number of click throughs, but when he added a fluffy kitten and some fun to his business page, his results tripled and his leads became way more engaged with his company.

Marketing should be about having some fun. Enjoy it and make it enjoyable for your prospects too.